That's a good question. Two immediately come to mind for different reasons: Derek Sivers because of his ability to succinctly portray his ideas. Each of his books are only about 100 pages even though they started out as drafts of more than 1000 pages. He calls this being considerate to the reader which I love.
And Nassim Taleb because his ability to weave fictional characters, autobiography, and correctly contrarian viewpoints on such complicated topics amazes me.
Well I would have to say Ralph Waldo Emerson. The "Sage of Concord" portrayed a poetic love for life that America has been unable to replicate since.
William & Henry James, Edgar Allen Poe, Emily Dickinson, Margert Fuller, Henry David Thoreau, Herman Melville, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Walt Whitman and John Muir all profited from knowing him.
Not to mention the people that came after.
One can read his essays on heroes "Representative Men" as both a collection of heroic figures but also an autobiography.
Do you have any particular writing heroes?
That's a good question. Two immediately come to mind for different reasons: Derek Sivers because of his ability to succinctly portray his ideas. Each of his books are only about 100 pages even though they started out as drafts of more than 1000 pages. He calls this being considerate to the reader which I love.
And Nassim Taleb because his ability to weave fictional characters, autobiography, and correctly contrarian viewpoints on such complicated topics amazes me.
What about you?
Well I would have to say Ralph Waldo Emerson. The "Sage of Concord" portrayed a poetic love for life that America has been unable to replicate since.
William & Henry James, Edgar Allen Poe, Emily Dickinson, Margert Fuller, Henry David Thoreau, Herman Melville, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Walt Whitman and John Muir all profited from knowing him.
Not to mention the people that came after.
One can read his essays on heroes "Representative Men" as both a collection of heroic figures but also an autobiography.
That's quite a list. I'm ashamed to say I've only read a handful of them. Who is your favorite if you could only read one for the rest of your life?
Ralph Waldo Emerson, basically everything he wrote...
What would you recommend starting with for someone who's never read him?
Just jump right into Essays Series One.
Representative Men is also a must read to see a great mind analyze other great minds.
Wonderful, thank you!